Find a design you like
You’ve landed on our page and you like what you see. We have a wide range of residential designs to choose from with different design approaches, with a different look and feel. We’ve categorised them into styles and you can even shop by features such as how many rooms the dwelling has, the size of the garage and other add-ons. It’s important to understand what the end-product will look like. Thus, we have included a video walk through of each house design showcasing the interior as well as the exterior. A simplistic sketch plan is also offered so that you can understand the room layouts and how the spaces are connected. High-definition renderings make it possible to have a clear understanding of the two main facades and also the living room areas. The first step would be to narrow down your search to your specific needs and choose the perfect design for your site. Now that you have chosen your perfect plan, what’s the next step?
Council submissions
You are required by law to submit council drawings to your local authority for approval before you commence your building project. Therefore, the council drawings are a must have if you’re planning to make the house a reality. We’ve deliberately made the council drawings affordable so that anyone keen on building their own house can do so. The basic house plans you purchase on Buy a Plan are sufficient for council submission, with the one exception the site plan, which will be specific to the property you are planning to build on. When you buy a plan from us, your essentially purchasing the council submission pack, but without site plan – and this contains the essentials of what you need to get started.
Construction drawings
Having your council submission drawings is a great start and could be all you need, but you can make the process smoother by giving the contractor as much information as possible. Therefore, to help you with your building project we have made extra documentation available for you to purchase with your council plan pack. These valuable documents will aid you on the building journey and include the following: electrical plan, bill of quantities and the digital formats of the plans. These additional information pieces are not a requirement for you to approve your plans, but will be hugely beneficial for your construction team.
The electrical plan is a construction drawing indicating light positions as well as plug positions. This plan is used by the electrician to position your light fittings and plugs and will also be used by your contractor to price the project before you start construction.
The bill of quantities can be seen as a shopping list itemising every construction item required to make the dwelling a reality. This document is used by the contractor to price the design and by providing him with a bill of quantities you can determine accurate costing for the project.
The digital files of the plan is very important and useful in finetuning some parts of the design. You can give this to your roof sub-contractor and they can provide accurate pricing for the project. If you have other professionals as part of your team like an interior designer or a landscape designer, they will find the document very useful in their design process.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know what each item is, you can ahead and select the items you will require. You can review your items before making the easy, safe and hassle-free online payment. After your purchase, you will receive your plans in pdf format via email. We will also courier the paper copies of the documents to the address you provided (included in price inside the borders of South Africa). These plans will be to scale and therefore convenient for you and your building team to use on the building site. Remember we are here to help you and our team is available to answer any queries that might pop up.
